LetterSchool, a new handwriting game for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, has just added two new awards to its growing collection. After being crowned “Best Educational Game” in the 2011 Best App Ever Awards, the mobile app has now been voted “Best Mobile App for Homeschoolers” and “Best Educational App” in the 2012 About.com Reader’s Choice Awards. Everyone is impressed by the game’s innovative approach to handwriting instruction, its outstanding quality and its high replay value. LetterSchool has been developed in the Netherlands by a select team of specialists from Boreaal Publishers and PiMZ.

Alkmaar, the Netherlands (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

In the Dutch game LetterSchool, young children work magic as they write letters and numbers with sparkling candy, squealing tires, cuddly animals, whistling trains and humming lawn mowers. Meanwhile, LetterSchool guides young players with a simple, consistent, clue-based method designed to work for all children. The wide variety of games captures the attention and keeps players practicing their letters and numbers, over and over again. It’s just like being at a party!

Sarah currently works as a writer for TechCrunch, after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to becoming a professional blogger, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. → Learn More

Disney and Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNAannounced a new partnership this morning that will see their first jointly developed mobile social games launched on DeNA’s Mobage social gaming platform, beginning later this month.

The first title to arrive, “Disney Party,” was released on March 28th to the Mobage network in Japan, which serves a mobile gaming audience of over 35 million. On April 2nd, a second title will arrive in Japan called “Disney Fantasy Quest.” These two games will involve Disney’s own characters, but will be followed by a third, (yet to be name……………. continues on TechCrunch

OpCapita LLP, a private equity firm, may buy computer games retailer Game Group Plc (GMG)’s U.K. operations as early as next week, the Financial Times said, citing three people familiar with the situation.

OpCapita faces competition to rescue Game, which is under judicial administration, from a group including Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Barlcays Plc, which is considering a debt-for-equity swap, the newspaper said.

According to a prepared statement released by Sony, the closure was the result of the normal cycle of “resource re-alignment.”

“Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm the closure of Zipper Interactive, a Seattle-based internal game development studio that has been part of the global development operation of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS),” according to the statement emailed to Vox Games. “The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within SCE WWS. Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita. Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 an……………. continues on The Verge

OpCapita LLP, a private equity firm, may buy computer games retailer Game Group Plc (GMG)’s U.K. operations as early as next week, the Financial Times said, citing three people familiar with the situation.

OpCapita faces competition to rescue Game, which is under judicial administration, from a group including Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Barlcays Plc, which is considering a debt-for-equity swap, the newspaper said.

According to a prepared statement released by Sony, the closure was the result of the normal cycle of “resource re-alignment.”

“Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm the closure of Zipper Interactive, a Seattle-based internal game development studio that has been part of the global development operation of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS),” according to the statement emailed to Vox Games. “The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within SCE WWS. Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita. Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 an……………. continues on The Verge

Winning numbers drawn in Mega Millions lottery game
UNDATED – Pull out your Mega Millions lottery tickets. The winning numbers for the largest jackpot in history have been drawn. After a day of record-breaking sales, the Mega Millions hype came down to a few minutes at 9:00 pm Mountain Time, …Read more on Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK (AP) — Madness is one way to describe my experience with March Madness Live, a service for watching the annual college basketball tournament on computers and mobile devices.

Don’t get me wrong. The features were great, and video quality was decent. But it wasn’t easy figuring out how to get the games I was entitled to watch for free.

CBS and Turner Sports were smart to continue offering live video coverage beyond the TV. After all, many of the tournament’s early games took place during the workday, when many people aren’t near TVs or don’t want to make it too obvious they’re goofing off.

What’s changed is that there’s now a fee to watch the games via March Madness Live, with some exceptions. Fans may detest having to pay for something that used to be free, but $ 3.99 for all 67 men’s games is a good deal. It’s a one-time fee, so you don’t get charged again for the iPad if you’ve already paid for access on the computer.

— ON COMPUTERS:

March Madness Live offers extensive access to the tournament, starting with the March 11 selections of teams and concluding with a practice session this Friday and the Final Four on Satur……………. continues on Fond du Lac Reporter

The Stanford Cardinal and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will tip off tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York tonight at 7 PM Eastern Time in an NIT Tournament Championship Game.

You can watch the Cardinal and the Golden Gophers play live online here.

Here’s a video from earlier in the season for the Cardinal:

And here’s more on the matchup between the Stanford Cardinal and the Minnesota Golden Gophers:

The winner of tonight’s game between the Stanford Cardinal and the Minnesota Golden Gophers will become the NIT Tournament Champion. Stanford has won the NIT once before, in 1991, while Minnesota won in 1993. The Golden Gophers also won in 1998, but that title was vacated because of compliance violations.

The NIT Tournament, which had been the only postseason college basketball tournament for a season in 1937 before the NCAA tournament came into being in 1938, was hotly debated as the most prestigious of the two tournaments for some time, but the NCAA tournament eventually prevailed and the NIT became the consolation tournament.

A lot of information came out at last week’s FanFest convention about EVE Online and it’s console shooter cousin, DUST 514. We sat down with EVE Online’s lead game designer, Kristoffer Touborg, to get the backstory on how these design choices were made and why they won’t stop EVE players from griefing the “dustbunnies” playing DUST 514.

Marriage is exciting and EVE Online is the best hangover game

Touborg: EVE Online is a big social game. I think trying to reinvent the wheel is sometimes a little bit crazy, but I really love to take mundane things—once you’ve put them into a game environment, for some reason, they become fun. Like hauling minerals across EVE: it’s viciously boring, but people still spend eight hours a day doing something [in real life] and then they go haul minerals in EVE.

I met a truck driver who did this. He drove a truck in real life, and when he got home he drove a space truck. There’s so many real things that we think of as mundane, but they become great game features. One thing that we’ll never put in, probably, but I love the idea, is marriage. Not because of the……………. continues on PC Gamer Magazine

Mozilla Launches Online Game Using HTML5, WebSockets
Mozilla has done just that with the launch of BrowserQuest, an old-school adventure game developed by Little Workshop. Currently the entire internet seemingly wants to check out the new demo, as it's extremely difficult to log on and stay connected.Read more on Tom’s Hardware Guide

The next-generation PlayStation console will display resolutions up to 4096-by-2160 and show 3D games in 1080p, but it may render second-hand games useless, according to an online report. Games would only be accessible for the purported new console, codenamed Orbis, on brand new discs or as downloads from the PlayStation Network. New discs would require online authentication via PSN and then be locked to the account of a single user, according to Kotaku.

While these are only claims from anonymous sources at this point, the idea that console makers are looking to destroy or at least restrict the second-hand gaming and rental market is not surprising. The move could push more users toward using Sony’s PSN Store to download game titles. And game makers would……………. continues on PCWorld

HootSuite Takes A Little Cash Off The Table To 'De-Risk,' Aims For Bigger Game
By Deborah Gage Social media management company HootSuite Media has ballooned since it started a little over three years ago, winning business from global brands and growing to nearly four million users, with $ 75 million in revenue expected this year.Read more on Wall Street Journal (blog)

Classic Games Remade
Full Fledged 80s Style Adventure Game. Perfect For The 35+ Yr Old Masculine Gamer – Many Have Fond Memories Of This Kind Of Game!Classic Games Remade

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Glu Mobile Inc., the maker of “Contract Killer: Zombies” and “Gun Bros” games for smartphones, is offering potential buyers the fastest sales growth among U.S. mobile gaming competitors.

Shares of Glu Mobile rose 21 percent last week on speculation it’s a takeover candidate after Zynga Inc. paid $ 180 million for OMGPOP Inc., which produces the “Draw Something” application. With analysts estimating revenue will climb 86 percent in the next two years, San Francisco-based Glu Mobile traded yesterday at 2.3 times 2013 sales, cheaper than the average for mobile gaming competitors globally and a 58 percent discount to Zynga, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Glu Mobile could be the next target in the $ 7 billion mobile gaming industry after deals for OMGPOP, Playdom Inc., PopCap Games and Playfish Inc. in the last three years, said Canaccord Financial Inc. While Glu Mobile has slumped 61 percent since its 2007 initial public offering, the company is projected to post its first profit by 2014 as it transitions to so-called freemium games that are downloaded at no cost and then charge fo……………. continues on San Francisco Chronicle

Under the new leadership of chief executive Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corp. said Tuesday that it will undergo a dramatic reorganization into a “One Sony” driven by its game, mobile, and digital imaging businesses.

The revamp will include the dissolution of Sony’s Consumer Products and Services Group, which included its consumer electronics, game and network services, as well as its Professional Device and Solutions Group, which included B2B products and services. Sony appears to have pulled out of the latter business entirely, partially replacing it with a newly created medical business unit.

Gree launches second US social mobile game, Alien Family
Gree made a splash last week with the launch of its first mobile social game for the US market, Zombie Jombie. Now the Japanese company is launching its second US game, Alien Family. The first game was more than just bait for Gree's mobile social …Read more on VentureBeat

This week on Crosshairs we chat to 2K about moral choices and sand in Spec Ops: The Line and Laura gives us a report on what the future of mobile gaming may hold, featuring opinons from game devs!

This computer screen shot from Turner Sports shows shows the Cincinnati-Ohio State game from Thursday, March 22, as shown on the March Madness Live app on an iPad. Live video is at the center, while stats and fan tweets are on either side.

NEW YORK—Madness is one way to describe my experience with March Madness Live, a service for watching the annual college basketball tournament on computers and mobile devices.

Don’t get me wrong. The features were great, and video quality was decent. But it wasn’t easy figuring out how to get the games I was entitled to watch for free.

CBS and Turner Sports were smart to continue offering live video coverage beyond the TV. After all, many of th……………. continues on San Jose Mercury News

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced three new PlayStation Home exclusive games. Free-to-play naval combat title Cutthroats: Battle for Black Powder Cove launched today in the US, post-apocalyptic shooter No Man’s Land follows this spring, and fantasy-themed multiplayer RPG Mercia arrives this summer.

Meanwhile, famed Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, who most recently served as sound director on Grasshopper Manufacture’s new XBLA shooter Sine Mora, said he thinks the Japanese games industry is “struggling” to create titles that appeal to a global audience, and may have

Temple Run and the Rise of the Free, Profitable Videogame
By Chris Kohler If you're an Android user who likes games, Tuesday was a big day. After seven months as an iPhone app, the wildly successful mobile game Temple Run was finally released to the Android platform, triggering an outpouring of excitement on …Read more on Wired News

In a significant milestone for a device once known only for blasting “Halo” opponents, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console is now used more for watching movies and TV shows and listening to music online than playing video games online.

Microsoft has long attempted to use the Xbox 360 and its predescessor, the original Xbox, as a “trojan horse” that would use video games as a way to become the digital entertainment hub for families in the living room.

“The original vision for the Xbox was for it to be the heart of connected digital entertainment and it has been amazing to watch the arc,” said Otto Berkes, a senior vice president of consumer technology at HBO who helped to launch the Xbox at Microsoft.

Yusuf Mehdi, who heads up marketing and strategy for Microsoft’s Xbox business, said households now spend an average of 84 hours a month on the Xbox Live online service playing games, watching videos and listening to music. That’s up 30% from a year ago. Just over half that time is spent on videos and music.

In a new Gamasutra feature interview, EA chief creative director Richard Hilleman reflects on the video game crash of 1983, and explains why the industry would have died off altogether if it weren’t for this catastrophic shakeup.

Hilleman, who joined EA just before the crash in 1982, says that the game industry couldn’t move forward based on the precedent set by the Atari 2600, as the console and the company behind it weren’t the right vanguards for a successful long-term industry.

“The 2600 crash, from my perspective, was a good example of creative destruction, and anybody who’s spent any time reading about Atari at that time recognizes that they needed some creative destruction; they clearly were not the right custodians of a great new business,” says Hilleman.

He notes that the 2600 “set expectations in people’s minds” about what video games needed to be, and the industry did n……………. continues on Gamasutra

Grizzlies hold off Lakers, snap 3-game road skid
LOS ANGELES — After losing the first three games on their West Coast trip, getting a victory in the finale should let the Memphis Grizzlies rest easier on the flight home. Rudy Gay scored 18 points and Mayo had 12 of his 16 in the fourth quarter, …Read more on CBSSports.com